both kids have decided that they are going to fight us at bedtime, stay up late playing in their rooms with flashlighs and then get up 2 hours earlier than they used to... wtf. their behavior is crapola, they are cranky, they refuse to listen or do whats asked of them... spring can't come fast enough so i can get these 2 kids out of the house for a few hours a day to run off this pent up energy. i am exhausted, and crabby as well. if only there were a magic solution to giving your kids enough sleep and having them listen.oh and the not listening is only to me and dh... they are angels for their g-mas. they listen well and pick up their toys and are good for anybody but their parents.

ugh. i hate having to be a mean mommy just to get simple stuff done like shoes on to get out of the house. and i am tired of having to do things for my 4 yr old that he used to willingly do on his own.

That stinks. I think we've all been there before and nothing is worse than over tired kids. Maybe put some music on in the afternoons and play freeze dance? That might wear them out if you do it for awhile. I do hope that they start sleeping better soon.

Kids that refuse to go to bed are one of the most torturous things for parents because it cuts into your own time and that is not good. I know because DD2 is the queen of avoiding bedtime and she shares a room with DD1 who would be fine but the 2 together are a recipe for disaster. I just had a mini breakdown last night when they came out again at 10:30pm last night claiming they were not tired! WTF?!

We set up a reward system for staying in bed starting tonight. We are also going to try to be more strict. I can't take not having some quiet, adult time at night. Do you think something like that would work for you?

they get 3 strikes. after that the door gets shut and they are not allowed to open it for any reason. (if they do they lose their night lights and flashlights) they can be heard playing till 930 sometimes 10 or even later. so while its frustrating i still get a bit of me time. then they are up before my dh gets up for work... which is way to early. they used to sleep in and dh would be at work for hour and half to two hours before they would get up

and the behavior.. the not listening and out right misbehaving.... they are being worse than ever! i hope that they get some sleep so we can fix the behavior issues. could it be cabin fever this early in the season? we still have so long to go before its nice enough to get outside everyday.

My DS1 started Kindergarten this year and sometime this summer he started getting up WAY too early for us ... like around 6-6:30. I know that's not early for a lot of people, but it's early for us. He used to sleep until like 7:30-8. Over the holiday break something changed and he's at least sleeping until 7 now, which is WAY better. He wouldn't go to sleep any earlier, so losing that additional hour of sleep was tough. I hope you have a random turn around and your kids decide to go back to the regularly scheduled programming.